| RPG DIFFUSOR SYSTEMS: News: DiffuseNews Archives: May 2000 |  |
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Events in April were a cause for celebration at RPG. The first Surface Diffusion in Room Acoustics symposium was held in Liverpool. Dr. D'Antonio reviewed the evolution of diffusor design and characterization from 1980 up to the present. Dr. D'Antonio indicated "After 20 years of hard work, I have a great feeling of joy and satisfaction that the work we began in 1980 has produced a new sound diffusion industry and our diffusion research is being enshrined in an information document and hopefully an AES standard. It is an honor to be collaborating with the world's most creative acoustical minds in developing these standards." RPG To Distribute For Lake Technology Lake Technology is a high technology company based in Sydney, Australia. Lake has more than 40 patents and patent applications pending in digital signal processing (DSP), 1-bit signal processing, digital communications technology, video games, internet media and related product areas. The company commercializes its innovations via proprietary products and licensing and has one of the world's leading research and development teams in audio and DSP at its Sydney research laboratories. The company originated the technology behind 'Dolby Headphone' a system for providing cinema-quality surround sound over ordinary headphones. RPG is proud to announce its appointment by Lake Technology as a distributor of its line of convolution hardware to the architectural acoustics industry. The range includes the CP4 and Huron convolution platforms. The CP4 is an affordable real time convolver with zero latency, meaning that once you have downloaded an experimental impulse response or a SIM file from CATT Acoustics you can instantly audition the room with any sound source in real time, for as long as you like. The Huron system is the big brother of the CP4, allowing more complex interactive audio simulations including walk-troughs. The CP4 and Huron systems are powerful tools which are seeing an increasing use in the architectural market. We are very delighted to have RPG as a distributor in the US, they have an excellent global reputation, said Patrick Flanagan, Sales Manager for the Huron and CP4. Dr. Peter D'Antonio, President of RPG, indicated that RPG is significantly expanding its Digital Acoustical Palette and is very excited to add Lake Technology to its growing list of digital products. The Lake technology is a natural extension of our collaboration with CATT Acoustics and offers the architectural acoustics community complete auralization capability. International Symposium on Surface Diffusion in Room Acoustics Liverpool, Sunday, April 16, 2000 The seminar was held in the Acoustics building at Liverpool University. The session started with Jens Rindel Holger reviewing the ISO Working Group 25 proposed standard for characterizing the degree of acoustic scattering from surfaces. This talk was followed by Dr. D'Antonio's presentation on the evolution of the uniform diffusion coefficient from 1980 to 2000. The goals and accomplishments of the AES SC-04-02 were also outlined. Examples of applications of the uniform diffusion coefficient were presented. These included 3D plots of the backscattering from a specular surface, a redirecting pyramidal surface and a Skyline diffusor from the EPSRC 3D goniometer. It was also demonstrated how the uniform diffusion metric is used in an design algorithm to obtain an optimized surface shape. Eckard Mommertz explained the details of the ISO scattering coefficient measurement method he developed with Michael Vorlander. Eckard also presented an approach that may allow the prediction of the scattering coefficient from the polar scattering data obtained from the AES method. While the two methods attempt to determine different and complimentary information, a translation between the two will be very welcome. Trevor Cox then described the development of the autocorrelation as the measure of uniform diffusion and described how the original model of uniform diffusion, namely Lambert's law, has been shown to be replaced by uniform intensity. Tristan Hargreaves, who built the 3D goniometer as part of his Ph. D. thesis, was also on hand to answer questions on measurement methodologies he has used. There was excellent discussion during the workshop and the group reassembled after lunch. Angelo Farina then described his experience with the Mommertz method and also a new Wave Field Synthesis method. Rendell Torres described the audibility of surface protrusions, called Bosses, compared with the Lambert diffusion model. Tau Wu of Salford University presented her research on optimization methods to determine optimum absorption from phase gratings. The effects of resistive surface layers affected the absorption efficiency. Chan-Hoon Haan described an extension of the work he did with Fergus Fricke on characterizing the surface diffusivity index. The meeting ended with lively discussion and the announcement that the Special Edition of Applied Acoustics will be published shortly.  Concert Hall Acoustics: Art and Science The Royal Festival Hall, South Bank Centre, London, UK January 28 - February 29, 2000 The free multimedia exhibition is intended to show how science and engineering have influenced the design of concert halls. The science of room acoustics has built up over the last hundred years. Before this, good concert halls were built by a process of trial and error. The features of the best halls were copied, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. It is often assumed that in the past we had some great talent to build good concert halls, and now we have forgotten the know-how, but this is the stuff of myth and legend. Today, with the knowledge and understanding gained through acoustics research, we can build concert halls knowing that the chance of building a good, or even a great hall, is much better. RPG is proud to have taken part in this educational and informative exhibit. Visit online at www.hallacoustics.co.uk. Diffuse Seminars RPG is now offering regular educational Diffuse Seminars for acousticians, sound contractors, home theater system integrators, architects, and other specifying consultants to apprise the industry of our research, new products, application assistance, and an introduction to RPG's new Room Optimizer™, Shape Optimizer, and CATT Acoustics software. The press is also welcome. The response to these educational seminars has been very enthusiastic and current seminar dates are available. If you are interested in attending, please e-mail to info@rpginc.com, contact your local rep or call Jeff Angel at 301-249-0044. EASE v2 loudspeaker export-file (.EXP) to CATT-SD1 import text-file converter CATT is working towards receiving first-hand data from most manufacturers but until a complete set is available loudspeaker exported from EASE v2 can be converted to CATT SD1 format. This can either be done by those that already have access to EASE libraries or if the open format export files (.EXP) are requested from each manufacturer. Unfortunately, the AES did not establish an open file format standard so the EASE v2 export-format has to be used. SIAP in North America Visit the RPG Acoustics Library for a new PDF paper by SIAP on Design Criteria for Acoustic Enhancement Systems, by Ben Kok and Wim Prinssen of Systems for Improved Acoustic Performance, Uden, The Netherlands presented last summer at the 6th ICSV in Denmark. Abstract Acoustic Enhancement Systems have evolved significantly — both technically and by acceptance — over the past decade. Numerous publications are available covering the design philosophy and successful installations. For people not directly involved in the implementation of these systems, it often is difficult to determine if a proposed design will perform to expectation in their situation. They are often confronted with large numbers of loudspeakers and microphones at — generally — undesirable places, but have no way of judging if the proposed configuration is the optimum, or that modifications are possible without negative influence to the end result. This paper will describe basic design criteria for Acoustic Enhancement Systems like loudspeaker density, microphone positions, number of required processor in- and outputs, etc. These criteria can act as a tool to evaluate proposed designs, as well as a way to estimate the required provisions to be included in planning such an installation. By presenting these criteria we hope to give our contribution to demystifying the magic art of designing Acoustic Enhancement Systems and thereby further increasing their acceptance as a viable tool in modern acoustic design practice. RPG Factory Summer Shutdown This year RPG will close its production facility during the week of August 14-20th. We announce this early so that all of our specifiers, clients and representatives can plan their orders and deliveries accordingly. |
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DiffuseNews May 2000
Current Projects Aesthetic Installation Oakland,CA Ambient Recording Stamford,CT Biltmore Hotel Conference Center Coral Gables,FL Campus Crusade for Christ Phase 3 Orlando,FL Century Productions Las Vegas,NV Chase Park Athens,GA Dansville Schools Rochester,NY David Dorsky Project Studio New York,NY Disney International Coral Gables,FL Balanced Audio Technology Champagne,IL Jupiter Entertainment Knoxville,TN Magnolia Hi-Fi Kent,WA Manabu Yamamura Tokyo,Japan MARC, Inc. Woodstock,NY University of Houston Melcher Center Houston,TX Northwestern Illinois University Chicago,IL Roxie Records Miami Beach,FL Tranquility Audio Zephyr Cove,NV Whale Branch Middle School Savannah,GA Zack Leven's Studio New York,NY Zero Return Atlanta,GA |
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